Archer fish tank mates.

silentskream · Aug 30, 2007

right now our (small) archers are in a 55 gal tank with lots of livebearers.. in a couple of weeks they're going to be moved to a 250 gallon tank. I'm wondering if the archers will eat the mollys when they're full grown.
From what i can tell now, there hasn't been any issues (they've been together about 6 months), but i know just because there hasn't been doesn't mean there never will be.

thanks!

Lupin · Aug 31, 2007

The archers will eat your mollies. Archers are predatory in nature.

silentskream · Aug 31, 2007

welll crap.

that ruins my whole plan.

*sigh*
well now i dont know what to do.

Sploke · Aug 31, 2007

Not to highjack the thread, but would archers eat bumblebee gobies? this might change my future plans as well.

legendaryfrog · Aug 31, 2007

are you sure lupin? archers are generally peaceful fish.

even so, if you want to be precautious, get the larger varity of molly (sailfin or lyretail)

as for the bumblebee gobies, I cant help you there. They seem like they're small enough to eat.....

Sploke · Aug 31, 2007

yeah, my line of thought was that the archers generally seem to hover below the wate surface like an arowana, whereas the bbgs pretty much stick to the bottom half of the tank, so maybe there wouldn't be an issue...anyone with experience in this combination?

silentskream · Aug 31, 2007

all of our mollys are adult full size. (3 inches or so)
definitely smaller than the archers will be.. but still big enough to hold their own. I've been threatened with tank-takeover by my boyfreind though if the mollys get hurt (they're his favorite fish for some reason) so if there's a high risk, i don't want to even bother.

right now it seems like the mollys push the archers around more than anything.. but i know once that mouth gets big enough, it could easily be another story entirely.

what are some other archer tnak mate possibilities? besides monos and scats (i'm not a huge fan of either)

Gangstafish · Aug 31, 2007

My archers don't eat fish. They eat crickets and frozen bloodworms. They have a variety of fish with them. Scats,monos,columbian shark cats,puffers,dragon gobies.